Chalawan, an extinctgenus of crocodylin, is known solely from its holotype collected in the early-1980s from a road-cut near the town of Nong Bua Lam Phu, in the upper part of the Phu Kradung Formation. This single specimen is the most well preserved vertebrate fossil that has been found from the formation. It contains a single species, Chalawan thailandicus.[1]

Nong Bua Lam Phu is famous as the spot where in the 16th century Naresuan, the king-liberator of Siam, came to learn of the outcome of a war between the Lao and Burmese in the area of Vientiane. This place was long a Lao stronghold. During the existence of the Lao Kingdom of Lan Xang (1354–1707), Nong Bua Lam Phu was traditionally given to the crown prince (Uparat) to rule. It was the birthplace of the principal wife of Chao Siribunyasan (พระเจ้าศิริบุญสาร), the last independent king of Vientiane.[2] In 1827, Chao Anou of Vientiane designated Phagna Narin to be governor at the onset of the Laotian Rebellion of 1826-1828.

Nong Bua Lamphu is the poorest province in Thailand according to the Bangkok Post. Incomes, as of 2018, average 41,000 baht annually.[3]

The province is largely agricultural. Sticky rice has long been the area's traditional crop, although there has been a shift to sugarcane due to low rice prices and sugarcane's resistance to flooding. In 2016, more than one third of the available agricultural land in Nong Bua Lamphu was used for sugarcane plantations. According to the provincial Office of Agricultural Economics, sugarcane cultivation is expected to rise. In contrast, the area devoted to rice farming shrunk by 73 percent from 2000 to 2016.[4]